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Friday, August 30, 2013

When my son finished math camp, he came home toting a
notebook filled with math problems and two ziploc bags of flash cards. One was
marked in bold Sharpie "needs to work on."

There was nothing subliminal about it. My son had
mastered many of the facts but a little more than a dozen multiplication problems continued to stump
him.

Rather than quiz him with the flash cards, I got busy
making a fun board game with the problems he was struggling with, and the rest of the fearsome fifteen that kids often miss.

I call the game "Aliens on Vacation."

Here's the backstory.

Several families of aliens went on vacation, but they're
having trouble finding their way home. Help them return to their home planet
(in the center of the board) by helping them maneuver along the space rocks in
orbit.

Our alien game pieces were inspired by the space invaders
game. We recreated them using perler beads. This was an excellent fine-motor art
project!

Not crazy about perler beads? What about making some pom pom aliens? Check out an example here.

How to Play

Three like-colored aliens are placed on the UFOs of the
corresponding colors. Each player takes turns rolling the die. When a player
rolls a six, their alien can leave the UFO and begin traveling along the
orbiting rocks.

The alien is moved to the rock immediately in front of
the UFO, but only if the player can answer the multiplication problem
correctly. Play moves to the next player who rolls, answers the problem on the
rock that number of spaces away, and moves their alien .
Each time a player rolls a six, a new alien can move out of the UFO.

Players must answer correctly to move their alien. Stumped? Use a multiplication table!

If a player rolls and lands on the same rock as an
opponent, that player can send their alien back to the UFO.

When the aliens have orbited once around, they must roll
the precise number of rocks left to get their alien up to their home planet.
For example, if there are three rocks left to get their alien back to the home
planet; the player must roll a 1, 2, or 3. If the player rolls a 4, 5, or 6,
they can either move another one of the aliens in play or they forfeit their
turn, leaving the alien in place. Once the player answers the last rock, their
alien can go home!

The first player to get all of their aliens home wins!

Love this game but want to practice OTHER skills (sight
words, addition problems, etc.)? Download a blank game board here and write on the
rocks!

For my just-turned-four-year-old son, learning the
letters in his name has been a struggle. I've been itching to find ways to help
make this fun. I took a piece of 8 1/2 by 11-inch office paper and cut it the long
way, taping the short ends together so I had one long strip of paper.

Then, I wrote the letters in his name leaving a generous
amount of space between each. Now, I grabbed only the popcorn letters that make
up his name, wadded them up a little, and tossed them into a popcorn cup.

It was his job to pull them out, say each letter out loud (he
repeated after me), and match the popcorn's letter with the letter in
his name, placing the popcorn letters in piles on top of the handwritten name banner I made. He really enjoyed this game and the two books we read to go along with
it as well.

SPELLING PRACTICE
Popcorn Game (Elementary)

My oldest son toted home his first spelling list this
week (the 2nd week of 3rd grade). While the list is shockingly easy compared to
last year (they're implementing a new literacy program), I wanted him to get in the
habit of studying spelling. The popcorn letters were the perfect spelling
manipulative.

For his activity, I used a BIG popcorn bowl we had on
hand and all the letters from four sets of the popcorn alphabet.

I wrote a handful of the words in his notebook and told
him to pull the pieces out, trying to find the letters to spell each of the
words.

Each word got a score - the number of extra popcorn
letters that were pulled out before the entire word was spelled. One word only
had 15, another 62! My son had fun counting and recording each word's score.

When he was done, we read The Popcorn Book. WOWZERS, there
sure is a lot to learn about popcorn!

We would love to have you link up your School-Age Post (Ages 5 and up) about your learning week after school including Crafts, Activities, Playtime and Adventures that you are doing to enrich your children's lives after their day at school, homeschool, or on the weekend! When linking up, please take a moment to comment on at least one post linked up before yours and grab our after school button to include a link on your post or site! By linking up you're giving permission for us to share on our After School Pinterest Board or Feature on our After School Party next week! Don't forget to follow along and join our After School Enrichment Community.

Link up your After School Activities, Crafts and Adventures! We'd love to see them!

Friday, August 23, 2013

When planning an activity for an 8- and 4-year-old, it
can be hard to find an idea that will keep both stimulated. These two
activities fit the bill. My boys had a blast!

Color Hunt

A local park in town has the most breathtaking display of
flower beds. I spend so much time ogling the flowers as I drive by, it's
surprising I haven't rear-ended someone. To share the beauty of the gardens
with my family, I planned a Color Hunt.The supplies were simple: six large
paint sample strips (ours were BEHR from Home Depot) in the colors of the rainbow (i.e. reds, oranges, yellows,
etc.), which I cut in two.

I punched leaves out of the hues and used a brad to hinge
them all together. I gave each of the boys their color book and sent them
exploring to see how many of the colors they could find in nature.

This was
SUCH a simple activity. What we found was that blue was an especially difficult
color to find a flower of; we had to look no further than the sky, though!

Fruit Rainbow

The next day for a snack, I prepared a plate of various
fruits for the boys. In front of them I placed a Rainbow Placemat that
contained boxes for each of the colors.

The boys were instructed to place fruits of the correct
color on their mats in the order specified. My oldest son's placemat had the
full seven colors of the rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and
violet), while the 4-year-old's contained the six basic colors (i.e. purple
instead of indigo and violet).

,

Download a 4-page PDF of both placemats here. Print, tape together, and laminate for durability.

FRUIT WE USED

Red: Strawberries

Orange: Mandarin oranges

Yellow: Pineapple

Green: Kiwi

Blue: Blueberries

Indigo: Grapes

Violet: Raisins

The boys used a small pair of serving tongs to move the fruit
from the platter to their placemat, which provided a little extra fine motor
practice for the younger of the two of them.

Alternative: Not a fruit-eating family? Have kids collect everyday objects from around the house to add to their rainbow mat!

(This isn't the first time we've eaten a rainbow. Check
out our rainbow cupcakes and word puzzle here.)

Book Recommendations

To conclude our color fun, I read a book with each of the
boys. The PreK book I chose for my youngest is by Betty Schwartz. This Magic
Ribbon book is such a treat to read with its colorful animals. My son never
ceases to be impressed when he turns the page and a new ribbon of color has
been added to the rainbow from the previous page.My oldest son and I enjoyed E. C. Krupp's book The Rainbow and You. It taught us a ton about how ancient cultures thought of the rainbow, who Roy G. Biv is, how the eye sees color, what rainbows are made of, etc. Both of us were astonished to discover how little we actually knew about these weather wonders!

Next, my son wrapped it around the bottle, secured it in
place, and began tracing around the edge of the template with a permanent marker.

Now, he handed the bottle to me and with an exacto craft
knife and scissors, I carefully cut along the lines he'd drawn.

Before things got messy with paints, he paper punched two
black dots from the construction paper. He placed it in the middle of the sticky
side of each dot sticker, and adhered the stickers (our fish's eyes) on the
inside of the bottle.

Paint brushes came out and the inside of the bottle was
lightly coated in an array of red, yellow, and lime green.

My son couldn't wait for it to dry. So we pinched the
tail together and added a staple to make our fish's body more flat.

Isn't the final result awesome? If we drank more soda,
we'd have a sea full of these at our house!

Monday, August 19, 2013

Are your kids heading back to school? The After School Linky is ready to help your kids flex their mental muscles with loads of great educational activities.Here are just a few of my favorites from last week's party.

P is for Police at Life with Moore Babies.(Ashley gave her kids a wonderful pretend police experience - complete with crafting their own badges, fingerprinting, and a mystery to solve. FUN!)

Kids Back to School Shopping Scavenger Hunt at B-Inspired Mama.(Shopping can be boring for kids, but Krissy knows how to make it fun: a scavenger hunt. Download her School Shopping Scavenger Hunt to keep kids entertained while you're looking for all those school supplies!)

Word Family Slam at Toddler Approved.(This word review is simply genius. Post note cards with word family words (or sight words) on the wall and have your child try to hit them as you call them out. Perfect for kinesthetic learners!)

Opuestos (Opposities) at Toddling in the Fast Lane.(Yogamama guided youngsters through a series of activities - everything from acting out opposites to memory and a version of duck, duck, goose - to help them remember Spanish opposites. Perfect for kids of all ages!)

4 Math & Counting Activities with Stamps at 3 Dinosaurs.(Cassie used stamps as a math manipulative and shows us how to practice patterns, counting, addition & subtraction. This is SUCH a clever use of stamps. Kids will LOVE it!)

We would love to have you link up your School-Age Post (ages 5 and up) about your learning week after school including Crafts, Activities, Playtime and Adventures that you are doing to enrich your children's lives after their day at school, homeschool or on the weekend! When linking up, please take a moment to comment on at least one post linked up before yours and grab our after school button to include a link on your post or site! By linking up you're giving permission for us to share on our After School Pinterest Board or Feature on our After School Party next week! Don't forget to follow along and join our After School Enrichment Community.

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

When we hosted a neighborhood outdoor movie night, I wanted something for kids to do while
we waited for it to grow dark enough to project the DVD onto the garage door. Amanda's little game proved to be the perfect solution.

I purchased a stick (you could use a jumbo paint stir stick) and three 6-inch floral craft rings from our local craft/hobby store.

We ran out of time to paint our stick and rings (perhaps
I'll get around to that once school starts back up) but I used some paint pens
to write on the rings.

Each ring had one of the following numbers on it: 10, 20,
or 30. I placed the stick in the ground using a rubber mallet about five feet
out from the edge of our driveway.

Kids could stand at the edge of the cement
and there would be no "no fair" comments because someone stood too
close. (Although, we DID allow the younger children the opportunity to stand
closer.)

Here's how we played. Each player gets all three rings to
toss. The objective is (of course) to try and get them threaded through the
stick. If he/she is successful, they get the points indicated on that ring. For
example, if a child tossed the ring marked 10 and it landed through the stick,
10 points were awarded.

If that same child hit the stick but it didn't go onto
the ring, only half the points on the ring (i.e. five points) were awarded. No
points are awarded for missing the stick.

The kids played this for an eternity and I was quickly
sent inside for paper and a pencil so that a scorecard could be made to keep
track of the rounds.

This was quick and easy division and addition practice. And the kids thought they were just playing at a fun game at an
outdoor neighborhood party.

We would love to have you link up your School-Age Post (ages 5 and up) about your learning week after school including Crafts, Activities, Playtime and Adventures that you are doing to enrich your children's lives after their day at school, homeschool or on the weekend! When linking up, please take a moment to comment on at least one post linked up before yours and grab our after school button to include a link on your post or site! By linking up you're giving permission for us to share on our After School Pinterest Board or Feature on our After School Party next week! Don't forget to follow along and join our After School Enrichment Community.

Two pictures of rockets (use clip art or draw your own;
just make sure they are mirror images)

Toothpick

Thread/string

Hot glue

Cut out your rocket pictures. Ours were approximately
2 inches by 1 inch in size.

Turn one of the rocket pictures over and place a
small bead of hot glue running up the center. Place the toothpick in the glue
so half of it extends out the bottom of your rocket.

Add glue on either side of
the toothpick and carefully add threads to simulate engine exhaust (remember,
the glue is HOT!). Now add some more glue to the entire rocket and place the
other picture on top, sandwiching the toothpick and threads.

Grab a straw and insert the toothpick into one end. Blow
through the other end to launch your rocket.

Turn this into a measuring activity! We placed a
measuring tape on the ground and kept track of which launch went the farthest. My son's record was 5 ft. 8 inches!

Cut a long length of your string and affix one end to a
surface that's elevated (make sure it's not too high for your child to reach).
We used the packing tape to hold it. Now cut the drinking straw in half. Thread
it through the end of the other end of the string.

Now tape that end to another area that is lower, so the
string is at an angle.

Blow up a balloon but do not tie the end closed. Use a
piece of packing tape to adhere the balloon to the straw that is on the string.
Make sure the open end of the balloon is pointing toward the elevated end of
the string.

Keep the balloon
pinched shut with your hands or use a clothespin. Add a loop of the tape on top
of the straw and place your rocket picture on top.

Now release the balloon and watch the rocket whiz down
the string!

NOTE: We found it difficult to reuse the balloons so if
you do this, have LOADS of extras handy. We launched our balloon-powered
rockets again and again and again. It just never got old!

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